sandik, on 09 March 2013 - 04:56 PM, said:
Birdsall, on 08 March 2013 - 06:17 AM, said:
I actually saw her one time in a concert with jazz musicians in which she sang in a jazz voice and less of an operatic voice. She released a cd of some of the songs. The cd does not convey her full ability at singing this repetoire. I really think she was a better jazz singer from hearing the concert than she was an opera singer. She could have had a career in that also, if she had wanted one.
I've very fond of the recording she made with Jessye Norman of spirituals, but part of that comes from loving Jessye Norman...
Yes, I have seen the concert on video. Battle was probably at her best when she did encores involving simply singing a spiritual acapella which was something she often did at recitals. She showed that she had true talent. Not many dare to sing acapella like that totally exposing the voice to total scrutiny. And like I said, the more jazz-influenced concert I saw showed that she could have made it in that genre. She sang jazz like a jazz musician unlike Fleming (who always claims to have started in jazz yet still sounds totally wrong in jazz). In fact, I am surprised she did not pursue that more after her Met firing. Her few and far between performances in concert made me think she was sort of deflated and "over" the opera scene. I think it would have been easy for her to go into a jazz career. She seemed to know a lot of musicians in that genre, and they seemed to respect her.
